Homecoming is a wonderful time of year when high school girls (and some boys) anxiously wait for a creative sign or a dozen doughnuts that convey one question: “Will you go to dance with me?” However once the perfect date is found, life becomes very hectic. Finding the right dress is difficult, and finding the perfect pair of shoes can be even more of a dilemma. Why do the shoes matter so much?

Many girls typically spend $30-$50 dollars on their shoes alone, and with the dress and accessories, the cost quickly starts to add up. More often than not, girls take them off as soon as they get to the actual dance.

Junior Lily Kennedy said, “I’ll wear them to dinner and pictures, and then take them off right away.”

The shoes get piled up on the bleachers, completely untouched for the rest of the dance. Facing a possibility of getting them stolen or left at the dance because no one is watching them. Some might say it’s foolish to spend a lot of money on new shoes for homecoming.

Senior Hunter Grosz said, “If your date is tall, then high heels making up for that is completely understandable. Otherwise, to buy them only to take them off at the dance is pointless.”

With so much money spent on shoes, why are they torn off five minutes after arriving at the dance?

Senior Kaitlyn Mura said, “Shoes are uncomfortable, and it’s easier to dance barefoot.”

Many times, high heels can make feet feel cramped and sore if worn too long. Most people would say an easy fix to this problem is to wear a pair of nice flats, but that powerful feeling girls get when they slip into a pair of six-inch heels cannot be beat.

Just because you want to wear nice shoes, doesn’t mean it should empty out your wallet. Try these alternate ideas to keep you from spending too much on your homecoming shoes:

1. If you have a friend with the same foot size as you, you can swap shoes.

2. Check with Goodwill or Platos Closet for gently used shoes, at a cheaper price.

3. You can always take an old pair of shoes and DIY them to give them a second life.

4. Share a pair with a friend from a different school so you both can wear a pair of new shoes, but split the price.

5. There’s nothing wrong with breaking out an old pair of Converse. If your date wears a pair too, this translates into a cute-couple outfit. Plus, they will look adorable in photos.

Cheap Places To Get Shoes:

Plato’s Closet

Quivira Crossing, 11608 W 135th St, Overland Park, KS 66221

Goodwill

16630 W. 135th Street

Olathe, KS 66062

Burlington Coat Factory

Great Mall of The Great Plains, 20030 W 151st St, Olathe, KS 66061

Charlotte Russe

Oak Park Mall, 11615 W 95th St, Overland Park, KS 66214

– Erin McCarthy // Staff Writer